Since the introduction of the Apple iPhone in June 2007, the number of computing devices known as smart phones and tablets has vastly increased. These devices typically consist of a touch screen that fronts a highly sophisticated, versatile, thin, and lightweight computer that among other things, serves as a point-and-shoot camera, a video camera, a face-to-face wireless communications device, a voice recorder, an electronic notepad, and even an electronic canvas. So much so, that Samsung offers a line of high end smart phones with an imbedded stylus under the “Galaxy Note” tradename and Apple has recently debuted a new line of electronic notepads with a highly sophisticated optional stylus under the “iPad Pro” tradename. Yet, the Samsung Galaxy line of smart phone devices, despite being fronted by a spacious touch-screen display panel, glaringly lacks a support mechanism that can position the device to various angles and orientations with respect to a resting surface, which would be highly useful to steady a camera shot, position the video camera at an optimum angle for recording a scene or an interview, for communicating wirelessly with another person over an extended period of time without tiring one's hand, as well as for consuming information or entertainment while freeing both hands to eat, or to perform other tasks concurrently. The Apple iPad Pro on the other hand while being an excellent platform for digital artists and designers, does not provide any mechanism that would couple its sleek “Apple Pencil” to its tablet when the pencil is not being used and does not provide any means for propping the device to various angles and orientations for enhanced functionality and ergonomics. Furthermore, a plethora of electronics suppliers, including Apple, offer a slew of highly sophisticated smart phones with highly sensitive touch screens, that do not accommodate a stylus, forcing the user to use their fingers to take notes or to draw; making such tasks highly impractical and uncomfortable to accomplish. These smart phones may benefit greatly from the inclusion of a flat stylus that does not add much thickness to a smart phone, but that may vastly increase the functionality of smart phones as note taking and sketching instruments.
Therefore, a need exists for simple mechanisms that can securely and inconspicuously couple a thin stylus to thin mobile personal information display and input devices and to enable that stylus to prop the device to various angles and orientations with respect to a resting surface or base.